The ripples of the Great Recession have redistributed lives and dreams on unfamiliar shores, and forced the castaways to forge new social networks as a matter of survival. Makeshift shelter encampments, abandoned apartment buildings, shanty towns, and homeless shelters are destinations for many set adrift by the financial crisis. Some, though, land in more promising terrain, such as an RV campground outside Boise, Idaho.
Of the 224 sites in this campground, nearly half are occupied fulltime by single adults and families. Some are here because they like the lifestyle–the intimacy of mobile row houses if you will–and others because it is the next best choice after foreclosure or eviction. Greg, a middle-age guy with a three-legged pit bull, has been here for three years and expects be here for at least three more. He is the campground’s unofficial handyman, helping new arrivals set up their units and helping neighbors with the myriad issues of a second-hand trailer or motorhome. He just recently bartered for a porcelain toilet that he installed in his own unit. Now he just needs to find a water heater and a refrigerator.
This campground is more like a mobile home park, in that the units are here for the long term, even those kept here for weekend use by local residents. With just a dozen feet separating the units, connections and relationships develop more quickly than in a traditional mobile home park, not to mention the typical subdivision. Adversity may bring people together, particularly in alien settings; but shared circumstances and concerns seem to be more powerful in forging social networks. The people in this RV park carry on their lives in pretty much the same size lots and with the same limits and privileges. The trailers and motor homes may vary in size and amenities, but they all share the common characteristic of being homes on wheels.
America is a country wedded to change. We renew or replace, or refashion or reinvent our assumptions and aesthetics continually. Our culture is transitory, and in this RV park, and others like it, people can land for a day , a week, a month, or years to repair their lives, companion with others, and entertain the hope of something better down the road.
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